third person or third-person?

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Scotty108

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third person point of view

or

third-person point of view

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point of view

or

point-of-view
 

dawinsor

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Hyphens are the devil to deal with. Often the dictionary is your best friend. Mine shows both "third person" and "point of view" without hyphens. However, that's when they're nouns and you're using "third person" as an adjective. My Chicago Manual of Style says it's never incorrect to hyphenate compound adjectives, so you can write it as "third-person point of view" if you want.
 

Sandi LeFaucheur

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But be sure not to say "the story is told in the third-person". In that instance, there is no hyphen. England's Daily Mail on-line newspaper is so dreadful at doing this, I actually wrote to give them a quick lesson in when not to hyphenate!
 

Lisa Cox

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But be sure not to say "the story is told in the third-person". In that instance, there is no hyphen. England's Daily Mail on-line newspaper is so dreadful at doing this, I actually wrote to give them a quick lesson in when not to hyphenate!

I do that all the time! lol. I've written to the Sun, to Heat magazine, and even to two UK publishers who put books with absolutely dreadful grammar on the shelves. People tell me I'm a snobby busy-body. :/
 

Grebbsy

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We need more snobbish busybodies, in that case. And more people who will laugh at the line "Does anal-retentive have a hyphen?" (Alison Bechdel)

I would say that in the present example, to omit a hyphen is never wrong, so it's the safest bet. (You wouldn't, I hope, put a hyphen in the grammatical term 'first person singular' or its kin.)
 
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